Little Rose Bud. That was one of my nicknames growing up. I can’t really tell you why, but i’d sign off any letters i wrote under that name like it was my destined alias. Weren’t i cool? Then, after my invisible pen pal days were over, i decided to think about its literal meaning of growth and how many might be discouraged by it’s thorns, rather than the bloom inside.

And hey, not everyone is gonna want a bunch of roses, are they? Some might be a sunflowers kinda gal or daffodil kinda guy or they might hate every living plant, butttttttttt each to their own. We’ve all got our acquired tastes don’t we?

It’s only now reaching that big (for me), not so big (for others) age of twenty five, that I’ve found my own place of calm and really concentrated on what i think, rather than being blurred or undeterred of others thoughts..so i’ll tell you a secret.

At School i was bloody terrible at everything. Real hideous. I failed pretty much everything and spent more time drawing pattern ink on my hands pretending i was a tattoo artist and throwing paper aeroplanes around the room, than i was listening in a classroom or watching a historical video about Egyptians. My teachers thought I’d fail and i thought i’d grow up being this old lady with no real life success but with a strong entourage of cats around me. But what they didn’t know, is that i had my own ideas for the future and watching that Egyptian video was not a part of it. But the cats probably were.

I grabbed every opportunity by the hands, said yes to everything, (especially alcohol) and worked hard for what i wanted. I made decisions based on instinct, went out of my way to do things outside the box and allowed my passion to navigate me to where i needed to be. In essence, i learnt to risk take. That to me, became my true rosebud moment. The moment i realised that it takes time to take everything in, digest and experience things in life before you can set off on your adventure alone till the bud is just a symbol of the past.

Obviously, i have a long way to go and my mind pretty much never switches off into thinking about my next project or idea, but rather than be more like something else, be more like whoever the hell it is that you are. As you can tell, i’m a massive advocate of self courage and i am all in for those that stick their middle finger up to tradition and do something a little different regardless of what everyone else might think. Even if people might think this post is lame, well then, great, you have an opinion. Good for you- vocalise it, chat about it, make use of that dam thing that connects your brain to your vocal chords and let people know your voice exists. But please, please, please, don’t go hiding or allow others to decide what you’re gonna be or who you are. Because we’re all on this little journey together, getting it right, getting it wrong but your willingness to search, learn and find your own rose bud moment will be enough and will take you to exactly where you need to be.